Expanding Coney Drive, the new business district

There is a massive project underway at the junction of Coney Drive and Princess Margaret Drive and chances are that if you ask passersby exactly what the plan is, like we did, four out of five wouldn’t have a clue. One person we asked today told us he thinks a roundabout will be built there. Another said that it’s a four lane road. Most didn’t know. News Five is on Coney Drive and from the looks of things, our operation will be affected by the works in progress, but we’re as clueless as those we asked. So we went to the head honcho, so to speak, the man who has gained about as much notice for unprecedented work done in the city as for the chaos and inconvenience caused by that work. Mayor Darrell Bradley cleared up the confusion for us.

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor

Darrell Bradley

“The area of Coney Drive is part of a zoning initiative to identify that area as the commercial and business district for Belize City. You would see along Coney Drive, there are a lot of establish businesses already. And the project actually calls for the restoration of Coney Drive and also the Northern Highway and some of the connecting streets; like Buttonwood Bay Boulevard. All of those streets will be resurfaced with concrete pavings and we are gonna zone those areas as commercial areas of Belize City. So the first part of the project—because it is in four phases—is to construct a roundabout at the intersection of Princess Margaret Drive and Coney Drive and we think that that will alleviate a lot of the traffic congestion there. And that project is being done by IB and the whole surfacing of that area, about four hundred square feet will be concrete and there will be a very nice roundabout, paintings, some esthetics and the traffic will be coordinated well there and eliminate the congestion in the morning. By and large, a major difficulty at the City Council has been to effectively communicate to people our vision for Belize City and to let them know in terms of the specifics with traffic flows and things like that so that they can organize their own lives. We had major problems when we were doing Freetown Road and North Front Street around Christmas Time and that caused a huge problem for people. We tried to improve the dialogue but of course we are not where we would want to be with consultations and I am admitting that we could do much more in terms of dialoguing with businesses along those areas.”

According to Bradley, the road sides along the entire length of Coney Drive will also be expanded fifteen feet while Buttonwood Bay Boulevard will be cemented.

Viewers please note: This Internet newscast is a verbatim transcript of our evening television newscast. Where speakers use Kriol, we attempt to faithfully reproduce the quotes using a standard spelling system.

11 Responses for “Expanding Coney Drive, the new business district”

First off, i would like to thank the Major for his exceptional work he has undertaken …. Best PUBLIC OFFICIAL THE COUNTRY HAS WITNESS IN MY VIEW…… Communication is everything Major, i like to think of it as…. don’t put on clean clothing on dirty skin…..
wat i’m tryna say is, get a better relationship with the community talk to em , inform them … i don’t believe it is that hard to release a press statement , projects are thought of and planned out before work starts… with that said ,at least a week prior to work being started a press release should be air on Tv and radio…… people are much at ease with information flowing.. they can prepare somewhat ….

so i say to you communicate communicate, your plans before hand…. when the media has to come and ask whats going on, that looks bad on your office…

i feel confident that you are capable of big things for our beloved country…. don’t have your communication skills derail that ……..

I strongly believe that this Mayor is the most active in recent history, he should fore go his ambitions of running for higher office and spend one more term as Mayor this would be more beneficial to him and the People of Belize City

I wish San Ignacio & Santa Elena would have a mayor like this. Belize city is seeing upgrades that have never been seen before. I believe mayor Bradley is a 100 times better than previous & current mayors all over Belize. Kudos and hopefully we get a mayor that works here on Cayo soon.

I beg to differ slightly: The jury is still out, or should still be out, on whether the Mayor is actually doing good. This critique is nothing to do with Blue or Red, but which of us know if these major works carried out are going to last. do any of us know if we are getting quality? are we getting bang for buck? Only time will tell whether the money spent on the works carried out were spent wisely, and while we wait to see the results in a few years, all that he has going for him now is that he is more active than the others were. nothing more!

If 10 plus years from now, the paved streets are still holding up strong then the mayor is deserving of the accolades. …but if a few years pass and we have crumbling pavements, broken streets, etc etc, then he will just be another in a long line of wolves in sheep clothing!

call me a cynic if you like but me? I prefer to wait and see. We’ve been burned for too long by so many before!

I’m not a big fan of the Mayor, because he thinks he is king, he spends money with no budget, no consultation, he shoots from the hip [or the lip, take your pick]. A lot of the expensive road building he has done is already crumbling, instead of lasting 80 years like he promised it doesn’t last 8 weeks. He keeps squeezing for more and more money to spend, instead of thinking how he can save money, maybe EASE the burden on hardworking Belizeans who get screwed by every level of government at every turn. Other than those little things, he’s a gem. It’s too early to know if or how much he personally profits from his public contracts, or for example, whether the work on Coney Drive is intended “accidentally” to increase the wealth of the property owners there.

Youre a “ROD” with a different color.. May I remind you that the streets are not “paved”. They are cemented!!! (CONCRETE) There is a very big difference. Pave crumbles if poor in quality. Cement does NOT. Did you see the metal they put into these streets? Bet yo boots these streets not gonna crumble, anyways, not before you do. By the way the streets are not for landing 747′s on. About the burning part, I think youre having that burning sensation of jealousy and hate..Just simply a “HATER”